What I learned?

Jumping in and using an app with just trial and error did not work. I was frustrated because I wanted a background color. Without a stylus, drawing and writing with my finger was not always legible. I’ve typed notes for over 20 years in order to make them legible so a stylus is needed.

I tried.

I watched three videos and downloaded an app to my Samsung phone. I watched two videos and entered three questions in the “help center”. The automated reply said that I would receive a response within 72 hours and between 9 to 5 when the offices were open.

I went back to paper and pencil and posted that second effort in the thread on Mary’s post. I thought about all the things that went wrong with Draft 1 and Draft 2.

I went to Google Drawings and created using a familiar format to capture basic ideas. Approximately two and a half hours on this representation of Mary’s FB post.

2018 is the year of books!

These are just some of the books that I have read (and blogged about) during the last school year. I’ve left out Ellin Keene’s Engaging Children, Tom Marshall’s Reclaiming the Principalship, and Kristi Mraz and Christine Hertz’s Kids 1st From Day One. So much to continue to learn. So much to continue to read and write about. So much to continue to be curious about.

And then another new book emerges . . .

This week’s #G2Great chat will be about this new book from Stenhouse by Kari Yates and Christina Nosek. And I’ve been waiting

and waiting

and waiting.

Conferring is still an area where I need to improve. Where I need to listen more and talk less. Where I need to grow. And conferring about reading!

The title is captivating: “to know and nurture a reader: Conferring with Confidence and Joy”. I love the conventions, and their use in the title. I love “confidence and joy”.

I have two chapters left to read and then I will be ready for the chat Thursday night. I can’t wait to spend more time practicing and improving my conferring skills with students and teachers. The videos, the tips, and all the problem solving has thus far been on target.

I grew up on a farm in southeast Iowa. I went to school in a small town of approximately 6,000 citizens. We were a homogeneous community. Our biggest disagreements were between Democrats and Republicans or Catholics and Methodists. Words. Not anger. Not distrust. Words. There was one African American family. One family. Although I graduated as one of 171 students in my class, there was no diversity at my grade level. None.

When I attended junior college, I was in a town of 20,000+. Diversity, some. And yet, our school was small enough that I knew people as individuals and not as a “racial group”. So it was a culture shock when at 19, I moved on to a university dorm in a town of 30,000+ with girls who didn’t look like me, didn’t talk like me, and who didn’t want to talk to me. I was totally unprepared.

What could have prepared me?

Relationships matter. People matter. When we understand our own relationships, we are better able to support the students in our classrooms. What happens when students want to talk about topics like race, gender, politics, religion and sexuality? Are you comfortable with those topics? What if their need to discuss those issues is so powerful that they can’t focus on learning until their conversation takes place. What are your options? One beginning point is to pick up Sara K Ahmed’s book, Being the Change: Lessons and Strategies to Teach Social Comprehension.It’s an EASY read. What’s tough is actually “doing the work” yourself in order to become “comfortable with the discomfort” that comes with learning and growing.

Here are just a few quotes from Sara for you to think about:

If you read and loved Upstanders, Sara K. Ahmed, will be no surprise to you. She’s bright, articulate and so ready to challenge the complexities of the world. Heinemann has a podcast here where you can hear directly from Sara about this book.

What are you learning?

What do you know about “social comprehension”?

Join the #G2Great chat Thursday, May 3, 2018 at 8:30 EST to learn from Sara!

It was a lab extra credit. We took turns looking through a telescope. But we really liked the view from the quilt on the ground. The sky sprinkled with twinkling lights was mesmerizing. And the “city slickers” slowed down to observe just a bit of nature. I didn’t want to be there. The ground was hard. It was late. A book was surely calling my name.

Read me. Read me.

But the uncertainty of whether I needed the extra credit made me linger. I knew my lab partner probably needed my points as well. That night – a peaceful view, a bit of learning and the company of friends and classmates.

I knew this. I didn’t have to be there. But it was Easy. No challenge No stress. Just time, a different location, and an opportunity for an out of the ordinary instructional experience.

There’s something magical about the North Star. I’m not sure if it’s the “constancy”, the fact that it doesn’t move, or just the symbol that guides us that sparks my curiosity (#OLW18).

What is your guiding star?

One of mine is my insatiable need to continue learning… and reading …and writing … I’m currently stuck on E’s

This book is not about following a script or a recipe for success. This book is about empowering teachers and leaders as thinkers.

Why this book?

Because Regie is first of all a teacher. Working with students is her passion and she wants to help you regain, regrow and re-empower your expert teaching voice. . . .”you – one caring and knowledgeable teacher – can make an enduring difference in a child’s life.” (Routman, Stenhouse, p. 3)

What additional information is available?

@Stenhousepub tweet:

“”…without that culture of joy and celebration of strengths…we are never going to get our students where they need to be and where they want to be.” @regieroutman talks about her new book, Literacy Essentials:”

What makes this book so appealing?

You CAN begin with any of those sections. They are very well cross-referenced so that you can dip into the pieces that you need!

2. The format in the chapters.

There’s a conversation with Regie with facts, questions, and anecdotes that illustrate the point. Then there is a detailed “Take Action” section. This is repeated multiple times in each chapter which has endnotes for a closing. A single teacher could choose actions to make changes in their classroom. A group of teachers could choose actions to make changes in their building or district. The possibilities for thinking teachers are endless.

3. The teacher in the book.

Calm, practical, thoughtful and thought-provoking conversations. Not a bunch of “mumbo jumbo” from publishers, test-writers, or those who have not been in classrooms recently or perhaps . . . EVER! Real solutions that will NOT add hours to your day. Real solutions that you can advocate for. Real solutions that will bring joy back into your life!

Not yet convinced?

Join the #G2Great chat Thursday, January 11th. Be a part of the conversation or listen in – whichever role is most comfortable for you. Listen in to hear the essence of the text, the indispensable actions, the natural, spontaneous actions that can bring JOY back into your teaching life. Then consider your next steps!

Why does this matter to me?

I remember meeting Regie at a Regis Literacy Institute in the late 1980’s or early 90″s. She was the first real live, up close and personal “edu-hero” that I ever met. She was so kind, so thoughtful and so willing to talk to me even though her coffee was growing cold in the cafe and I was totally interrupting. She’s a teacher. She’s a leader. She’s a reader. She’s a writer. Regie’s amazing!

“Bravery is not always a roar; sometimes it’s the quiet strength that we possess when we need it most.” ~@OnStageKimberly

Are you brave?

It may depend on how you define brave.

I eagerly anticipated “Brave” in 2017 because my word had found me in mid-December. I tried it out quietly, drafted some ideas, rechecked my understanding, watched this video of Kimberly Davis and finally announced it here. I embraced, Brave, and changed the wallpaper on my blog.

And it was a roller coaster because there were days that went by in a fog and days where time stood still . . . and minutes became months. And then there were the days that seemed to barely last one hour. What a strange construct time can be . . .

By Sunday the air is bittersweet. Farewells begin. Last conversations are passionate pleas to capture frantic final minutes. Choices are final. Options are few. Time races. No second chances to catch folks as flight departures begin before the sun is above the horizon.

Sam Fremin began with asking us to not constrain student’s creativity! He told us the story of having a two page limit to an assignment that meant he had to cut almost everything out of his original seven page response.

What is the purpose of a two page maximum assignment?

What is your response to a “page limit”?

Is that indicative of the teacher’s attention span?

Sam contrasted that with this year’s AP Lang course where they were to “Write about something important to us” as they compared and analyzed two essays. As a 15 year old, Sam, who likes The Onion wanted to write a satire about “Discrimination not really being that bad” and through multiple conversations with his teacher, worked out the details and “used a display of writing that I will never get to write again. I displayed my need to try that voice.” And the teacher, even though she wanted a tight rein on the expectations, did participate in a two-sided discussion that allowed Sam to write his satire!

And then Sam’s role (as a high school junior) was to continue to introduce each of the panel members. Such poise and great presence for a high school junior and one of the #BowTieBoys! (Sam blogs here.)

We also learned that advocacy for Native Americans is important because Kathryn Hoffman-Thompson shared a US map with reservations marked although only 22% of Native Americans live on reservations. Kathryn teaches at an Ojibwe school so she is very cognizant of appropriate language and respect for cultures. Awareness may be a great first step but Kathryn also encouraged us to be aware that work barely scratches the surface of working with folks who have different beliefs and values. How do Ojibwe students want to be named? When do we ask?

Susie Rolander shared that we need to let student input drive our work. This means we need to revise and renew our professional practice. (A plug for Coppola’s book – Renew!) It’s a Journey! But for students who are struggling there does need to be a Sense of Urgency! And that this meant as an interventionist, Susie wanted her students to be independent. “I don’t know what I would do without you!” from a student was not what she wanted so one big action in her productivity plan was to move to student goal-setting so the students themselves would know if they were meeting their goals. Their goals. Not teacher goals.

Justin had us begin by completing this statement: “I am _____”

I am a:

Mother

Grandmother

Sister

Aunt

Great aunt

Daughter

Cousin

Friend

Reader

Writer

Blogger

Advocate

Learner

Thinker

Observer

Questioner

Dreamer

Reader

Am I real? Do my students know my many roles? Do other staff know our roles? Justin shared a “I am” board created in his school.

Justin’s parting challenge was to consider equity and how we build our identity every day of our school lives so that we are not just working on career education in high school. Instead of “What do you want to be?” in terms of a career, Justin said we need to shift to “What great problem do you want to solve?”

Kara Pranikoff, author of Teaching Talk: A Practical Guide to Fostering Student Thinking and Conversation, closed out the presentation with thoughts on how to use talk in the classroom to increase student engagement and agency. And also, “Deep thinking takes time, we’ll wait. Take your time.” Students set the pace. As an instructor at Bank Street College, Kara and Susie routinely invite their students to Twitter chats!

N.O8 Redefining Authenticity: Empowering Student Ownership

I was expecting to be blown away by Ruth Ayres because I can’t stop talking about her new book just out, Enticing Hard-to-Reach Writers. It’s an amazing personal heart-wrenching narrative about her children who struggled with life and then also a “how to” deal with teaching writing. And yet all three of the other panel members complemented that presentation.

Quotes:

Skills and dispositions for writing are the same for real work. We have to get the heart right. Students need to write. Yes, kids are afraid! Writing is where I can help kids see the different ways a story can go.

If we have authentic writing projects, teachers cannot make all these decisions. Students need some choice and voice. This is NOT a free-for-all! You don’t have to leave ALL open! But you must leave SOME open!

Project Idea

Audience

Purpose

Topic

Genre

Teacher

Teacher

Teacher

Teacher

Teacher

How do you ensure that students have an authentic voice?

How do you know that students REALLY believe that they have a voice and some choice?

A new day. Typical. Some leaving home. Some already arriving at their destination. Snow on the mountain pass. Video from walking through the rainforest. And the ubiquitous, “Are we there yet?” Pictures of the first two arrivals at the airport: Kathryn arriving from MN and Justin from PA. They trickle in. The #G2Great Cousins are arriving from literally across the nation and within 24 hours all attendees will be present.

First mini-gathering

And then the Gala Event . . .

#NCTE17 began with celebrations divided by grade levels: elementary, middle, and secondary. The Elementary session recognized many attendees for their current work as well as their past work. First time attendees were equally applauded for their presence. The stars were aligned. Ones that I saw and or spoke to included:

Yetta Goodman

Katie Ray Wood

Ralph Fletcher

Carl Anderson

Kathy Collins

Vicki Vinton

Dorothy Barnhouse

Mary Lee Hahn

Franki Sibberson

Ruth Ayres

Patty McGee

Dan Feigelson

Literacy Rock Stars!

The big, big crowd was there to honor and salute the work of Katherine and Randy Bomer, who in their own inimitable style rallied us to action after Kathy Collins’ hilarious introduction of the honorees because she has known and worked with them for year. An interesting factoid is that their November interview is the most retweeted NCTE article. (link)

Critique and resistance are necessary.

What are our values in teaching? How do we translate those into practice?

In a time of resistance, what are we ADVANCING into the world?

Katherine encouraged us to:

Meet every child with an air of expectancy: open heart, open mind with respect. Awe, wonder, and love. (Maxine Green – TC – “Humans are never done becoming.)

Delight in students’ voices: “Does it bring joy?” “Student writing is the place where I know I am doing something meaningful.” “Best place to fall in love with student writing is in the notes you find in your room.“ From her mentors: Lucy Calkins, “Children can write, children have stories, and children can write with laser like vision”; and Donald Graves “Children will write if we let them.”

Randy shared that it’s not enough to resist. It has to be part of an action. He proposed that we advance justice and respect.

Advancing Justice – Critical Lenses – Writing for Change

“Doing critical work is how we continually check the differences among people. How we restratify our relationships. Big concepts are: Groups, Power, and Relationships. Where do we find these in stories?” Student voice, agency, and thinking about hard things in the social world. . . Advancing more critical perspective. Reading our shared lives to see when we see something that someone should do something about – our actions, habits, and lenses.

Advancing Respect – Appreciative Stance – Critique of Deficit Stance

“Listen to a reader to understand them. Readers come with enough.”“No deficit perspectives.This has fueled me.” Hold up a mirror to check for an appreciative stance. Call people’s attention to injustices. DO something about them! Polarization that may have begun on internet but have moved to the street. Continue to resist injustice. “White folks are obliged to do that!”

You can hear more from both Katherine and Randy at 9:30 Friday, today, at NCTE. Or check out #NCTE17. Follow the hashtag through Sunday for the best and most important happenings from St. Louis, Missouri.

Final thought I tweeted out before we left the convention center:

“Do we tell teachers? . . .

You are enough!

You don’t need a basal.

You don’t need Pinterest.

You don’t need TpT.

You are enough.

Make decisions for the students in front of you!”

And with that the #G2Great celebration began . . .

Rumor has it that the Friday evening #G2Great meet up will include ukeleles.